Do you ever stop and think wistfully of family life before COVID-19? Before the stress of mask-wearing, hand-sanitizing, physical distancing, and virtual learning? You’re certainly not alone. After one year of living with COVID, many parents have become more aware of their parenting style and are reflecting on whether their parenting style is working, or if they need to try something different.
Some tips were recently shared for parenting success in the iHealthOX webinar: The impact of COVID on the well-being and mental health of families. From that talk, we’re highlighting six parenting tips to help you navigate the new pandemic normal.
Set reasonable expectations
It is ok if you can’t meet your usual standards. This is a chaotic time and won’t last forever. Have compassion for yourself. Prioritize what really matters, like your loved ones and your health.
If you’re struggling to set expectations, take a step back and focus on values. No matter what the situation looks like, your core values will still be the same and you can find ways to incorporate them. So for example, you may value teaching your children how to give back to others. Despite COVID, there are plenty of ways to accomplish this in your community.
Communicate with your kids
Talk to your kids about COVID at an age-appropriate level and focus heavily on the measures that are put into place to keep them safe. Allow them to ask questions openly if they aren’t sure why you are doing something.
This could be a good time to learn more about your family’s love languages (how we prefer to receive love from others) for more effective communication. Some children prefer quality time, or words of affirmation. Sit down as a family and find out what your love languages are for improved communication.
Make the most of your surroundings
For many people, we are now limited to our homes for life, work and play. If this is the case where you are, try to make the most of it. Switch things up and make it fun! This might look like having a blanket fort movie night, or eating somewhere besides the dining room table for a special treat.
Many have chosen this time to tackle home projects to spruce up their space and make it more cozy for quarantine. This can be a great project for the whole family.
Focus on the big picture
When you are feeling like this will never end, try to focus on the larger picture and remember that although it has been going on for a long time, this too shall pass.
Each time you hear negative news, or new restrictions that place a strain on family life, remind yourself what your end goal is: getting yourself and your family through the pandemic happily and healthily. Ask yourself if your current mindset, or worries are helping you achieve that goal. It may mean setting healthy boundaries with your surroundings (i.e. limiting the amount of time watching the news, etc.). Often, we are making in-the-moment predictions about things we simply cannot predict, which doesn’t support ‘big picture’ thinking.
Normalize grief
We have all grieved the loss of what we knew to be normal. It is typical to experience a variety of emotions. Reach out for help if you need assistance working through your emotions. Remember, you are not alone. It is completely understandable to not feel well during this pandemic. If you know other parents, they can be an important source of comfort during this time because they too are juggling the stress and uncertainty of pandemic parenting.
Focus on what you can control
It is stressful to be in a state of not-knowing. Instead, try to focus your attention on the things you can control. For example, setting a solid family routine is something you can control that can give your children balance and stability amidst school closures and changing pandemic restrictions.
A solid routine gives children a sense of security and makes them feel safe. Your routine should be based on things that aren’t affected by COVID-19. So for example, scheduled mealtimes, bedtimes, or family quality time.
Watch the full coaching webinar session here.
If you need additional support to meet the demands of parenting during the pandemic, connect with our iHealthOX Care Team to determine the right next step for you.
Article sources:
Psychology Today: What are the 5 love languages? Definition and examples
Psychology Today: Seeing the big picture
Melbourne Child Psychology: The importance of routine in childhood